I know it's only the first Preseason game but there were a few good signs in last nights game that left me looking forward to next weeks game against Atlanta.

#1) The Starting Offensive line was not only Cohesive they were aggressive in the run game and made BJGE look like a decent running back. Dan Connely made a Killer Block to spring the Law Firm for that 6 yd TD Run. People should have a little less anxiety about Logan Mankins right now although I'm sure we would all still like to see him signed for the right price.

#2) The Starting Defense Stuffed the run extremely well with the exception of 1 Barry Sanders like run from Bush. They were aggressive, fast and very good tackling which is something I haven't been able to say for a couple of years. Spikes is the real deal. That's pretty obvious already and you know he's going to improve from where he is right now. Patrick Chung had 6 tackles and was probably the Best D-Back on the field. Good solid tackles too. When he hit them, they went down.

#3) Edelman is a Wes Welker clone. Put both of these guys on the field along with Moss stretching and Good luck to any defense that thinks they can stop us. We are completely stacked at Wide receiver and even Hernandez looked sharp at TE and when he was split out wide.

#4) Special teams has got a good boost in the return game with McCourty. This guy looks like Ted Ginn out there with the speed, quickness and instinct on where to attack the return coverage. I'd be surprised if he didn't return a couple for TD's this year. Zoltan had 3 punts buried inside the 20( Closer to the 10 Yd line ) and he had a 50 yd punt that seemed to hang up for ever. It doesn't seem like much but we won the field position game last night because of that and Hansen couldn't do that.

Just watched the game and I am pretty excited about the physicality I saw from the Pats. They did power running in the red zone effectively. The thing about that power running was that I felt they could have easily scored a TD from a pass play but just wanted to prove they could do whatever they want.

This team could easily get more out of the pass game if they chose to. This dual threat is something that's been lacking and I think the Pats are a very dangerous team this year.

Good points, all. One thing for me... I don't see Edelman as a Welker clone exactly. A bit more speed, maybe? Couple of plays, he flat outran the defender straight forward. It will be great to have both of them. Loved the O and D lines, backers, secondary looked ok great at times, hoyer looked great, and punter looked strong. Me be happy.

Just watched the game and I am pretty excited about the physicality I saw from the Pats. They did power running in the red zone effectively. The thing about that power running was that I felt they could have easily scored a TD from a pass play but just wanted to prove they could do whatever they want. This team could easily get more out of the pass game if they chose to. This dual threat is something that's been lacking and I think the Pats are a very dangerous team this year.Posted by shenanigan

Most definitely!For the last 2 years in preseason I have come away thinking, " Sloppy Tackling and an inconsistent Running game ". That play carried into the regular season. It was so good to see a team last night that tackled well and ran the ball. 1 other note.C Taylor looked pretty good at RB with a horrible 3rd string offensive line in there. I'd be interested in seeing him play with the starters.

And when do we play the Jets???

Troy- You're right about Edelman and I'll take that. Calling him a Welker Clone is the best thing I could say about him.

This Zoltan kid can really hit the ball, good to see his is keeping it in bounds,....and the Hernandez kid reminds me of Winslow jr. he is gonna make a lot of plays if he stays healthy, as he took a lot of akward hits, he will have to adjust to the speed and physical play, and learn to get down, and not take those low hits, but I like him alot...Tate didnt get too many touches, but I see the potential...I like the 3 TE big formation around the goal line...and so far as the defense...I couldnt be more excited about this new group of young guys ready to forge their own identity and I think they will be let loose.....Chung is our Rodney, a spark plug who will pop you, and help you up...I love this Kid, always have, he will bring excitement and intensity to the backfield, and I saw why McCourty was a 1st rd pick, with his speep, size and toughness...He might start over Butler... All n all, very good stuff!!!Posted by patsfan76

That 3 TE set inside the five with an ability to run will get us many easy TD's on Play action. Bring on the Falcons next week.The starters should play for almost the entire first half.

Positive way to open the preseason. First units played well, backups got a lot of time and they got a win. The whole week seemed very positive, Saints were a good team to have a joint session against. The biggest positive to me is Brady looks focused and fired up. Last season he seemed almost too calm, maybe his knee feels stronger this year.

Good post. I added some other comments in the Mankins thread that pretty much mirror yours, EWhite. One thing I thought was interesting is how clean they played. Very organized, thorough, professional, etc. That's a good sign. I expected a lot of rusty, sloppy play because it is preseason, but they meant business. I like it. How good is Edelman? I mean, he's basically Welker without having done it for 3 seasons. Brady looked focused and ticked off when Faulk lost the ball in the lights on that swing pass. He looked good too. Could this Murrell guy help this team at OLB? Sounds like CUnningham may have tweaked something so it's too bad he didn't play, but Murrell looked pretty good. I guess we need to keep an eye on him to see if he can continue to make plays. I like his energy.Posted by russgriswold

I read where Cunningham had a Mild Ankle sprain in practice the other day. I was looking forward to seeing him play too but Murrell held his own out there. It's refreshing to see crisp and clean play in Preseason. I expect them to get better as the preseason moves on and they should come out swinging against Cinci.Edelman is King right now. I need to check the NFL Network for replay times. I'm thinking they should run that game again at least once more.

1) We played the Saints who ate us up last year. When both number 1 teams were on the field, we had the edge. We ran on them and after setting up the play action we passed on them. Well! Edelman...wow!

2) We stuffed the run on them, Murrell, Spikes, Chung all looked strong. Got to Brees twice.

Last) Brady looked determined, had that edge as did the D. Even though it was PS they were amped like it was an end of the year division game...

Key take aways:(Yes I know this is pre-season) 1) We played the Saints who ate us up last year. When both number 1 teams were on the field, we had the edge. We ran on them and after setting up the play action we passed on them. Well! Edelman...wow! 2) We stuffed the run on them, Murrell, Spikes, Chung all looked strong. Got to Brees twice. Last) Brady looked determined, had that edge as did the D. Even though it was PS they were amped like it was an end of the year division game... We are on a serious hunt this year!Posted by gmbill

And it's open season on Colts this time around! I can't wait for that game already.

The Aints aint got much first string offense, aint got much first string defense, aint got much first string special teams. Whoa, those were the Super Bowl champs. I just ran the numbers. The Patriots hung 10 points on the NFL's #1 team and they weren't too shabby before this game, so as of today the Patriots are clearly #1 in my NFL power rankings. Posted by Paul_K

Nice..I was just going to ask you what the rankings were. Hopefully you'll have a full workup of the numbers after the weekend is over.

We all know that the offense is solid, and we have a solid DT and one DE (Gerard Warren played great). And the secondary looks to have an identity, as do our MLBs, but the big question for me is when will Ty Warren be back, because he's needed. I'm assuming Mike Wright was filling in for him, and he did great, but we will need Ty at some point.

Then it's the OLB position. TB-C looked great. He hasn't dropped off and he was consistently pushing the pocket in the pass-rush, but what about the other OLB position? Murrell looked good, but will he end up starting? What about Cunningham or Ninkovich? Right now I like Murrell if he can continue to play the way he did last night. He looked good rushing the passer, and he looked active in the running game and did a good job setting the edge. Whoever it is is an upgrade over Adalius.

I am a Ninkovich fan and he looked mediocre/poor last night. Agree on Murrell. If that is a one game aberration with no progression, then it will disappointing. Nice surprise, though. He's bigger than I realized.Posted by russgriswold

Yeah - this stood out to me too. I thought he would be a smaller, thinner guy, but he looms quite large. He looks like a Vrabel - Tall and thin.

Again, I'd say OLB is a bigger question mark than DE, being that we know Ty is there when he's ready, but as for OLB, we don't have a "locked in" starter opposite of TB-C.

Still, I loved the offense, and Connelly looked great - no need for Mankins is Connelly can keep up the hard work. On the defensive side of the ball, I loved the aggressiveness and speed and "flying around" attitude. The run defense was great, and the pass-rush was much improved from last year - simply the push from the line was better. In terms of the coverage, a lot of guys stuck with their guy and were right there to make the tackle - all of this was agaisnt the Saints, arguably the best passing team in the NFL last season.

I was over the top excited with that first 3 and out our defense dropped on the Saints! I definitley didn't expect that out of the gates... I was a little dissapointed with Butler, that penalty on 4th down can not happen. Pumped that Spikes does appear to be legit ILB, he had is nose is almost everyplay when he was out there. Could be the steal of the draft if he repeats his efforts from last night.Posted by Payment84

I have no reason to think he won't Payment. The scoop on this kid coming out of college was that he was instinctive and had a motor that doesn't quit. We got a taste of that last night. We could be looking back at these last 2 drafts and being quite pleased by the end of the year. They have some good young players.

And yes the Butler play really hurt but I'm hopeful that won't happen again.The defense put decent pressure on Brees and hurried a few of his throws including the on e on the Butler penalty. Not bad for opening night.

1) It was nice to see Chung and Spikes play like that, but I think most of us exected that. No surprise, there.

2) I have a budding man-crush on Julian Edelman. He is just a gamer, and yes, that is one good-lookin' young man. He's gonna be a rockstar.

3) I am surprised that the press is not talking more about McCourty on kick-off returns. That's a big story to me--having an explosive player on ST that tilts the field position battle our way is freaking huge. Shows how little "sports" journalists understand football.

1) It was nice to see Chung and Spikes play like that, but I think most of us exected that. No surprise, there. 2) I have a budding man-crush on Julian Edelman. He is just a gamer, and yes, that is one good-lookin' young man. He's gonna be a rockstar. 3) I am surprised that the press is not talking more about McCourty on kick-off returns. That's a big story to me--having an explosive player on ST that tilts the field position battle our way is freaking huge. Shows how little "sports" journalists understand football.Posted by USMCM1A1

No kidding huh? Most sports journalist I heard or read said that McCourty was a reach where we grabbed him. If they started writing good stuff about him right now that would be like admitting they were wrong. This guy can blast upfield though and New Oreleans is no slouch.

Think about how many games this team lost last year with a contributing flaw, with the D needing to defend a very short field and the offense getting some weak starting spots of their own with bad kick off return stuff from Slater, etc. Why on earth does Reiss have Slater making this team and Holt cut? Maybe Holt gets cut, but when you have a slew of improved Returners for kick offs to pick from who are better than Slater, there is no way he makes it. I think their STs will be VASTLY improved in kick off returns, punting and coverage. Their coverage was prety good last year, but I think it will be better with more of an infusion in STs Aces.Posted by russgriswold

I don't know what the fascination is with Slater. Reiss usually has his reasons but he may just be front running on that choice because Holt hasn't practiced much as of late. I'm not a big Slater fan though and Holt can still play.

Mr. White, I can't agree more. This was only the first game but fundamentally they looked solid. Outside of that missed tackle on the run back I didn't really see any big mistakes. But then again I was sitting in the 300 section. This offense is going to score at will this year.

Mr. White, I can't agree more. This was only the first game but fundamentally they looked solid. Outside of that missed tackle on the run back I didn't really see any big mistakes. But then again I was sitting in the 300 section. This offense is going to score at will this year.Posted by Sam-Adams

No Doubt Sam. The positives that I took out of this game were all the things that have been absent for the last couple of years and things that have contributed to our minor and short demise from championship status. The running game, the ability to stop the run and good solid tackling. Also something else that hasn't been talked about much were the Penalties or lack of. With the exception of the Butler penalty we weren't hurt bad by penalties. We've been snake bitten over the last couple of years by drive killing penalties and penalties on defense that extended drives and we played a good clean game last night. I actually expected more last night with the re-alignment of the officials.

I wouldn;t be surprised if BB told Holt something like "we'll get you some more looks to get you tuned up in the upcoming weeks, but we want to get Tate, Price, Edelman, etc looks this preseason to have them work on their stuff." He's not listed as hurt and he hasn't been cut. I have a hard time seeing BB sign him, bring him into camp, keep him here, etc, JUST to tutor the younger WRs. Or, cut him late in camp. I just don't see it with Patten retiring. I see BB keeping no more than WRs, and that includes Holt. Slater? No. I would keep Aiken before Slater. Moss, Welker, Edelman, Holt, Tate, Price. This team is loaded with STs studs elsewhere on the roster.Posted by russgriswold

Quite possible. I don't expect to see much out of Fred Taylor or Sammy morris this preseason either. We've had enough injuries lately and I have no problem being careful with the older guys as we already know what they're capable of.